Table of Contents
Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs: 50 Years of Research (1967-2017)
A seminal scholarly work detailing the historical and contemporary research on psychotropic plant substances used for medicinal, therapeutic, and spiritual purposes.
Editorial Board:
- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, Director Emeritus, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- Dr. Dennis McKenna, Director of Ethnopharmacology, Heffter Research Institute; Chair of the Symposium
- Dr. Wade Davis, Professor of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
- Benjamin De Loenen, MS, Founder and Executive Director of ICEERS
“A sweeping overview of the history and state-of-the-art of the scientific search for ethnopharmacological agents used as entheogens, capturing the initiation of the field in the psychedelic 60s’ —and now, 50 years later. From the history of origins of the field to the contemporary cutting-edge concerns of novel treatments for addictions, the 2 volumes of Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs lay out a panoramic view of a field that has exploded over the last half century.”
Dr. Michael James Winkelman, MPH, Ph.D., author of Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing and co-editor of Advances in Psychedelic Medicine
“Sampling a broad range of the expertise of the time, these books assemble a rich cornucopia of interdisciplinary learning on the study of plant psychoactive medicines from different cultures, the go to ethnopsychopharmacopoeia of our times.”
David Luke, Co-editor of DMT Dialogues: Encounters with the Spirit Molecule
About the authors
Dennis McKenna
Dennis McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer, and author. His work focuses on the study of ethnopharmacology and natural hallucinogens. He earned his PhD in 1984 from the University of British Columbia. His research there examined ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, two Amazonian psychedelic medicines. He completed post-doctoral work at the Helicon Foundation in San Diego (1984-86), the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology at NIMH (1986-88), and Stanford University’s Department of Neurology (1988-1990). From 1990-93, he was the Director of Ethnopharmacology at Shaman Pharmaceuticals. In 1993, he moved to Minnesota to join Aveda Corporation as Senior Research Pharmacognosist.
Dr. McKenna taught at the University of Minnesota from 2001 to 2017, focusing on Ethnopharmacology and Botanical Medicines. He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute. He also advises non-profits in ethnobotany and botanical medicines. Dr. McKenna played a key role in the Hoasca Project, studying ayahuasca with the UDV religious group in Brazil. Terence McKenna is his brother. From 2004 to 2008, he led a study on Amazonian ethnomedicines for treating schizophrenia, funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute.
In 2017, he organized a symposium marking 50 years since the first Ethnopharmacologic conference in 1967. Synergetic Press published the proceedings of both the 1967 and 2017 events in a double volume in 2018.
In 2019, he co-founded the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy, a new non-profit. He moved to Canada with his wife Sheila that spring. They now live in Abbotsford, B.C.
Sir Ghillean Prance
Professor Sir Ghillean Prance is the Director Emeritus of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. He is renowned for his work in the ecology, taxonomy, and ethnobotany of the Amazon Basin. From 1981 to 1988, he was the Vice-President for Science at the New York Botanical Garden. He also founded the New York Botanical Garden’s Institute of Economic Botany. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and the Explorers Club. Additionally, he is a Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters and a Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Currently, he serves as the Scientific Director of the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.